What's your taste in music then?

Quoted from BlackandWhiteBarmy2

If we're going back to the thirties then I would suggest you listen to Robert Johnson.

If you like the Blues then you'll already know of him. If not then listen and learn

Quoted from promotion plaice

Just remembered this...

Quoted from Sandford1981

Heard this for the first time in ages yesterday. A proper tune.

Quoted from Manchester Mariner

An absolute classic that.

This is my favourite Inspirals track co-starring the legend that is Mark E Smith.

Quoted from Sandford1981

Heard this for the first time in ages yesterday. A proper tune.

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

Time plays tricks with the memory and tastes change over time but nevertheless -

Steppeth right this way for Ron Rafferty's Magical Musical History Tour.  

My first memory of music that I actually liked, as opposed to stuff my parents played, was on the radio every Sunday after Two Way Family Favourites, this is the TV version from later years -



Somebody Stole My Gal has always been a sort of memory jogger to childhood as have -

Champion The Wonder Horse
Robin Hood (riding through the glen and other lyrics.)
The William Tell Overture for The Lone Ranger

The Dambusters film came out when I was little so there was a horde of kids running around with toy planes going "Da da da da da-da da da ....."

Then we got to slightly more grown up stuff - Wagon Train, Rawhide ..... and still most of them were on the Children's Favourites list on a Saturday Morning.
The Runaway Train - Michael Holliday,
I Went To Your Wedding - Spike Jones.
My Old Man's A Dustman - Lonnie Donegan
Hole In The Ground & Right Said Fred - Bernard Cribbens

But there were exceptions -

Rock Island Line - Lonnie Donegan
Freight Train - Nancy Whiskey
Only Sixteen - Sam Cooke
Cathy's Clown - The Everly Brothers
Poetry In Motion - Johnny Tillotson

and leading on to

Only The Lonely - Roy Orbison
Peggy Sue, Oh Boy etc. - Buddy Holly
Great Balls Of Fire - Jerry Lee Lewis
Girl Of My Best Friend etc etc - Elvis
Shazam - Duane Eddy
Telstar - Tornados
Midnight In Moscow - Kenny Ball
Wonderful Land, FBI its - Shadows
Runaround Sue - Dion & The Belmonts
Runaway, Hats Off To Larry etc - Del Shannon
Palisades Park - Freddy Cannon

I saw both Del Shannon and Freddy Cannon at the Ritz.

Then we reached The Beatles. I can't honestly remember where or when I first heard the Beatles but I suspect it was on Brian Matthew's Saturday Club. They were live on there quite regularly in 1962-4 and they had their own Pop Go The Beatles show as well. The quality of those live performances is amazing. If you have never thought much to the Beatles they are well worth a listen just to see what good musicians a young band could be in 1963. Compared to them the Stones and other groups were amateurish in musical terms though they might have compensated in other ways.My favourite Beatles tracks are the earlier ones -

If I Fell
In My Life
Eight Days A Week
Rock & Roll Music

There were a lot of Mersey hits and copycats around. Many a summer evening was spent after school making pocket money picking blackcurrants at Somercotes singing along to the strains of Pace And The Gerrymakers and Billy J Krapper.

Around this time West Side Story was very big. I can remember recording my mate's LP on my reel to reel. I don't think we were especially keen on the romantic stuff like Maria and There's A Place For Us but we liked the dance numbers like Gee Officer Krupke and When You're A Jet and the Rumble.

Another oddity was that I discovered Glenn Miller and Ella Fitzgerald, a taste which was a bit strange for a young teenager but which has stayed with me.

Then summers were spent at Eskimo and Birds Eye and the tastes changed again. Dylan was a big favourite. I was blown away by Like A Rolling Stone which made us realise a single could be an epic long before Bohemian Rhapsody came along. Sonny and Cher, well, mainly Cher I admit. Judy Collins, Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez. Can you see a pattern here?

Jumping a year or two my biggest musical regret is probably that I never saw Sandy Denny perform live. Who Knows Where The Time Goes is one of my all time favourites.



But we did not like to be pigeon holed We were happy to go to a folk club on a Tuesday and a motown and soul night on a Thursday. Geno Washington, Jimmy James & The Vagabonds, even the Four Tops appeared at clubs in Sheffield and Nottingham.

The greatest 60s group of all for me though was The Animals in the early years. Burden, Price, Chandler & co. were magnificent on stage especially in a club. Gonna Send You Back To Walker has to be one the best rock & soul songs ever recorded.

The Kinks were good live as well except that Ray Davies cannot sing in tune to save his life. Lola is a great song though especially live. I saw them with and without Dave Davies and it showed how much he brought to the group. Sad to see him nowadays.

Another regret - I never saw Otis Redding or Sam Cooke live. Otis doing Shake and Satisfaction at full volume on the Dansette used to rock our hall of residence every Saturday night.

I'll leave it there for now. Sometime when I'm feeling energised again I'll try thinking of what music has made an impact after I stopped being a teenager all those moons ago. But those years live with you forever don't they?

This is one of my all time favourites.




Might I suggest turning the volume to number 11.

And if you need an encore -

Quoted from KingstonMariner

The Dom Vose thread and a terrible pun got me listening to this classic again:



And those clever chaps at You Tube helpfully pointed out some others of the same vintage guaranteed to make some old Mariners feel 5 or 6 again.

Mungo Jerry and his Nobby from Grimsby whiskers



An earlier one Mamas and Papas cover of California Dreaming (and I don't fancy yours much)



Always assumed these were Brits: